Kite



Dec. 31, 1963 l E. A. LEVY 3,116,043

KITE

Filed Sept. 14, 1962 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 /4 Z 9/ 8 4 :11' .5l/'' 376. l. QZ f. EE, 83

52 IN VEN TOR.

BY g

E. A. LEVY Dec. 31, 1963 KITE Filed Sept. 14, 1962 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Gaaf/VEA. 5a/V INVENTOR United States Patent @ffice lli Patented Dec. 31, 1963 3,116,043 KITE Eugene A. Levy, 2429 Later-man Terrace, Los Angeles, Calif. Filed Sept. 14, 1962, Ser. No. 223,610 12 Claims. (Cl. 244-153) In general, the present invention relates to a kite adapted to actuate air-operated sound devices carried thereon. More particularly, the present invention relates to a threedimensional kite adapted to actuate air-operated sound devices carried thereon and to maintain stable flight.

The design and construction of kites is a very old art dating back many years. However, one of the persistent problems encountered in kites is the obtaining of substantially stable flign't and this has led to many complicated kite constructions and the utilization of tails and other attachments which substantially interfere with the lift ability of the kite. In addition, it is commonly desired to adorn kites with sound devices, such as musical instruments and noise makers. However, such sound devices usually substantially interfere with both the lifting ability and flight stability of the kite. Also, such sound devices are usually subject to erratic Variation in their sound effects due to the variation of air flow by them or through them.

Consequently, it is an object of the present invention to produce a kite which is adapted to maintain stable flight coupled with great lifting ability.

Another object of the present invention is a kite adapted to carry air-operated sound devices and to actuate them substantially uniformly.

Another object of the present invention is a kite wherein the sound devices carried thereon contribute to the flight stability of the kite.

Still another object of the present invention is a threedimensional kite having a shape and dimensions adapted to achieve stable flight.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention will be readily apparent from the following description and drawings which illustrate a preferred exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

ln general, the present invention involves a three-dimensional kite comprising a light, hollow, substantially rigid enclosure having a front, back, top, bottom, and bilaterally symmetrical sides. Such kite has an air intake means opening into the bottom its enclosure adjacent to its front and at least one air-operated sound device connected to said enclosure. The sound device has its air inlet opening to the interior of the enclosure and its air outlet opening to the exterior of said enclosure.

ln order to facilitate understanding of the present invention, reference will now be made to the appended drawings of a preferred specific embodiment of the present invention. Such drawings should not be construed as limiting the invention which is properly set forth in the appended claims.

In the drawings:

FIG. l is a perspective view of the kite of the present invention showing its enclosure partially broken away to show the internal supporting framework for the enclosure.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the kite of the present invention with the enclosure removed, showing the internal supporting framework for the enclosure.

FIG.3 is a view of the right side of FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a rear view of FIG. l.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the kite of the present invention with the enclosure removed.

FIG. 6 is a detailed view of one portion of FIG. 5 partially broken away to show the connection of a rod extending from the right side of FIG. 5.

FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view of FIG. 6 taken along the lines VII- VII of FIG. 6.

As illustrated in FIGS. l-7, the kite 1 of the present invention basically involves a light, hollow, substantially rigid enclosure 2 having a front 3, a back 4, a top 5, a bottom 6, and bilaterally symmetrical sides 7 and 8, respectively which forms substantially the entire surfaces of the kite 1. Such enclosure may be made out of a molded piece of rigid plastic, such as biaxially-oriented polystyrene, without requiring a supporting framework. However, preferably the enclosure is formed of a thin sheet of flexible material, such as plastic, paper, etc., mounted on a supporting framework 2@ so that a hollow and substantially rigid enclosure is formed. lSuch kite is kept light by forming the framework 2@ out of material, such as balsawood, or a light metal material. In general, the kite l has proportions wherein the ratio of its largest longitudinal dimension to its largest lateral dimension is in the range of about 0.5 to 3, but preferably such ratio is in the range of 1.5 to 3. Also, the kite generally has depth proportions wherein the ratio of its largest horizontal dimension to its largest vertical dimension is in the range of about 2 to 25, but preferably such ratio is in the range of about 4 to l5.

Within such range of proportions, the enclosure 2 may have many shapes, such as circular, square, or any other regular polyhedron; however, the preferred form of the enclosure 2, as illustrated in FIGS. 1 7 has octagonal parallel top and bottom panels 5 and 6. The enclosure 2 also has a front panel 3, a back panel 4 and two parallel opposing middle side panels 9 and 10, respectively, with all said panels having substantially equal areas. The middle side panels 9 and 1t) are connected to the front panel 3 by means of two front side panels 11 and 12, respectively. The front side panels 11 and 12 have substantially larger areas than the middle side panels 9 and 10, i.e. they are about twice as large in area. Also, the middle side panels 9 and 10 are connected to the back panel 4 by two back side panels 13 and 14, respectively. The back side panels 13 and 14 have substantially larger areas than the front side panels 11 and 12. Thus, each of back side panels 13 and 14 is approximately three times larger in area than the middle side panels 9 and 10.

When a sheet of thin llexible material is utilized to form the enclosure 2, as noted above, a frame structure 2i) is required to support such enclosure and make it hollow and substantially rigid. As illustrated in FIGS. 2 and 5, particularly, the structure 20 includes twoparallel upper longerons 21 and 22, respectively, and two lower longerons 23 and 24, respectively. The longeron 21 is supported directly above the longeron 23 and the longeron 22 is supported -above the longeron 24 by vertical ribs 25, 26, 27 land 2S. The upper longerons 21 and 22 are substantially shorter than `the lower longerons 23 `and 24 so that curved angle ribs 29, 30, 31 and 32 may be utilized to form a smooth contour between the upper and lower longerons at the front and back panels of the enclosure 2. Similar to the longeron construction, the frame structure 2t) has `a pair of upper lateral struts 33 and 34 mounted directly above a pair of parallel lower lateral struts 3S and 36 by means of vertical ribs 37, 38, 39 and 4t). The upper lateral struts 33 and 34 are substantially shorter than the lower lateral struts 35 and 36 and lhave their ends connected by means of curved angle ribs 41, 42, 43 and 44 to form smooth contour middle side panels 9' and 1). `The adjacent ends of the lower longerons 23 and 24 are connected by braces 45 and 46, respectively, and the adjacent ends of the lower lateral struts are connected by braces 47 and 48. The adjacent ends of the lower longerons 23 and 24 and the lower lateral struts 35 and 36 are also connected by braces 49, 541i, 51 and 52. The vertical relationships of the upper and lower longerons and the upper and lower lateral struts are maintained by a plurality of stringers 53 which circumferentially delineate the structure Ztl. The stringers 53 may be made of simply string or thin metal wires.

Opening into the bottom 6 of the enclosure 2 adjacent to its front 3` is an air intake means 6l). Air intake means 60, as illustrated in FIGS. 1 7, is a scoop-shaped surface 61 with its front 62 opening to the front of the kite 1 and its top 63 opening into the enclosure 2. Preferably, the air intake means 60 is formed, as illustrated in FIG. 5, by a U-shaped member `o4- whose legs are separated by and adjacent to the brace 46 between the adjacent front ends iof the lower longerons 23 and 24. The bottom of the U-shaped member 64 is supported by the lower lateral strut 35 by means of a brace o5 therebetween. The scoop-shaped surface 6l is then formed by stringers 66 connected between the U-shaped member 64 and the lower lateral strut 35 adjacent to its connection with the brace 65.

Connected to the enclosure 2 are two sets .of air-operated musical pipes 70 and 7l. The sets of pipes 7d and 71 are connected to the back side panels 13 and 14, respectively, adjacent to and separated by the back panel 4 of the enclosure 2. As illustrated, the sets of pipes 7) and 71 are mounted on the braces 49 and 50, respectively, between the lower lateral strut 35 and the lower longerons 23 and 24, respectively. The air inlets 72 and 73 of the said sets of pipes 70 and 71, respectively, open to the interior of enclosure 2 while the air outlets 74E and 75, respectively, open to the exterior of enclosure 2 through apertures 76 and 77, respectively, in the back side panels 13 and lll. While musical instruments, such as pipes, have been illustrated in FGS. l through 7, any sound device may be so mounted, such as noise makers, i.e. vibrating reeds. In any event, it has been found that the vutilization of the large enclosure 2 with its higher pressure relative to the pressure exterior to the enclosure 2 along with the large air intake means produces steady sounds on such sound devices. Apparently, such large pressure chamber dampens the normal pressure variations involved in kite ying so that such steady sounds can be produced.

IExtending from each of the sides 7 and 3, preferably from the middle side panels 9 and lll, are pairs of rods Si) and 81, respectively. Bach of said pairs of rods have flaps 82 and 83, respectively, rotatably connected therebetween. .The flaps S2 and $3 are adapted to vibrate due to the passage of air thereby. Such vibration has been found to not only produce desired sound effects but also to materially contribute to the stability to kite 1 to: the flight stability of kite `l. As illustra-ted in FIGS. 2 and 5, flaps S2 and 83 may be formed from semi-circular loops 2S and 83, respectively, which may be covered with sheets of flexible material. Adjacent the vibrating panels 82 and 83` are preferably apertures 34 and $5, respectively, in the enclosure 2. Such apertures have bee found to desirably affect the operation of the vibrating flaps, such as 82. and 83, with respect to their sound effects and their flight stabilizing characteristics. Similar to the sides 7 and S, the back panel 4iand front panel 3 have pai-rs of rods 85 and S7, respectively, extending therefrom. Such pairs of rods also have flaps till and 89 rotatably connected therebetween which are adapted to vibrate due to the passage of air thereby. However, only the 4back panel 4 has an aperture gli therein adjacent lto its flap 88, since an aperture in a corresponding front panel 3 has been found undesirable. Similar to the side apertures 84 and 85, the back aperture 9i? has been found to desirably affect the sound effects and `flight stability elfects of the vibrating flap S3. Preferably, also, the back panel i has a tail means 91 attached thereto, such as a plurality of streamers. Such tail means 9i have been found to increase the flight stability of the kite 1. As illustrated in FlGS. 6 and 7, the rods extending from the sides (and front and back) may be attached to the frame 2t! by connecting them to the lateral struts or longerons Vand having them extend through a port 93 in the curved angle ribs. It should also be noted that the back aperture 50 also aids the agitation of the streamers 92.

Preferably, the kite l has a circumferential flange lill extending from the front 3, back 4, and sides 7 and 8 of the enclosure 2. Such ilange has been found to increase both the lifting power and stability of the kite l.. As illustrated in FIG. 2, the flange Milli is preferably formed by a Stringer lill connected to the outer ends of the rods Si), lll, 36 and S7 with a sheet `of flexible material connected from the Stringer lill to the enclosure 2. As illustrated, the flange lut) is interrupted by the vibrating flaps 82, `8?, 88 and 39.

Preferably, the kite is flown by attaching three strings lll and lll to the bottom 6 of the enclosure 2 connecting the strings with a common fourth string lll?, at their other end with the fourth string forming the connection with the kite operator. Preferably, such three strings are connected to the opposite ends of opposing rods Si? and 8l and to the bottom of the air intake means. 6i). By adjustment of the length of the string M2 attached to the bottom of the air intake means di), relative to the lengths of the strings il@ and lll attached to the rods Si? and 8l, the angle at which the kite will climb may be manipulated as desired by the kite operator.

During its operation, air is taken into the kite through the yair intake means 6i? and discharged primarily through the sets of pipes 7@ and 7l through the apertures 74 and '75 in the enclosure 2. in addition, there is also a discharge through the apertures S4, and 9i) in the sides and back.

The discharge of air from the side through the pipes produces a relatively steady sound, ywhile .the discharge of air from the side and back apertures causes the vibrating panels to produce complex noise effects and vibrate away from the enclosure 2 to increase its stability in flight. Also, the discharge from the back aperture aids in the kite maintaining a stable course of flight and agitates the tail means 9i.

Many other specific embodiments of the present invention will be obvious to one skilled in the art in view of this disclosure. For example, as mentioned above, the enclosure 2 may be made out of suicient light rigid material to not require the supporting frame 20. Alternatively, the frame 2) may be formed with the upper longerons and upper lateral struts pivotally connected to'- the lower longerons and lower lateral struts, respectively, so that the kite may be collapsed flat when not in use.4

There are many features in the present invention which clearly show the significant advance the present invention presents over the prior art. Consequently, only a few of the more outstanding features will be pointed out to illustrate the unexpected and unusual results obtained by the present invention. Gne feature of the present invention is the utilization of a three-dimensional kite to form a pressure chamber for sound devices, such pipes and vibrating reeds, whereby a relatively steady sound is produced. Another feature of the present invention is the utilization of vibrating flaps to produce noise effccts and increase the night stability of the kite. Still another feature of the present invention is the utilization of apertures in the three-dimensional kite to desirably affect the performance of the aforementioned vibrating llaps, still another feature of the present invention is the utilization of an aperture in the back of a three-dimensional kite to improve its flight stability.

lt will be understood that the foregoing description and drawings are only illustrative of the present invention and it is not intended that the invention be limited thereto. All substitutions, alterations and modications of the present invention which come within the scope of the following claims or to which the present invention is readily susceptible without departing from the spirit and scope of this disclosure are considered part of the present invention.

I claim:

1. A three-dimensional kite adapted to actuate airoperated sound devices carried thereon and to maintain stable flight, consisting essentially of:

(a) a light, hollow, substantially rigid enclosure having a front, back, top, bottom and bilaterally symmetrical sides, said enclosure sides forming substantially the entire surface of said kite;

(b) an air intake means opening into the bottom of said enclosure adjacent to its front; and

(c) at least one air-operated sound device connected to said enclosure, said sound device having its air inlet opening to the interior of said enclosure and its outlet opening to the exterior of said enclosure, said enclosure being adapted to dampen the pressure variation so that said sound device produces a relatively steady sound.

2. A kite as stated in claim l wherein the ratio of its largest longitudinal dimension to its largest lateral dimension is in the range of about 0\.5 to 3.

3. A kite as stated in claim 1 wherein the ratio of its largest horizontal dimension to its largest vertical dimension is in the range of about 2 to 25.

4. A kite as stated in claim 1 which includes two sound devices connected to said sides adjacent to and separated by the back of said kite.

5. A kite as stated in claim l wherein said enclosure has a circumferential flange extending from its front, back and sides.

6. A kite as stated in claim l which includes tail means attached to the back of said kite.

7. A three-dimensional kite adapted to actuate airoperated sound devices carried thereon and to maintain stable flight, comprising:

(a) a light, hollow, substantially rigid enclosure having:

(I) octagonal parallel top and bottom panels,

(II) a front panel, back panel, and two parallel opposing middle side panels of substantial equal areas,

(III) two front side panels connecting said middle side panels to said front panel, said front side panels having substantially larger areas than said middle side panels, and

(IV) two back side panels connecting said middle side panels to said back panel, said back side panels having substantially larger areas than said front side panels;

(b) an air intake means opening into the bottom of said enclosure adjacent to its front; and

(c) at least one air-operated sound device connected to said enclosure, said sound device having its =air inlet opening to the interior of said closure and its outlet opening to the exterior of said enclosure.

8. A three-dimensional kite adapted to actuate air-operated sound devices carried thereon and to maintain stable iiight, comprising:

(a) a light, hollow, substantially rigid enclosure having a front, back, top, bottom and bilaterally symmetrical sides, each of said sides having at least one spaced pair of rods extending therefrom, each of said pairs of rods having a flap rotatably connected therebetween, said flap being adapted to vibrate due to the passage of air thereby;

(b) an air intake means opening into the bottom of said enclosure adjacent to its front; and

(c) at least one air-operated sound device connected to said enclosure, said sound device having its air inlet opening to the interior of said enclosure and its outlet opening to the exterior of said enclosure.

9. A kite as stated in claim 8 wherein said enclosure has an air vent adjacent to each of said side flaps.

10'. A three-dimensional kite adapted to actuate airoperated sound devices carried thereon and to maintain stable ight, comprising:

(a) a light, hollow, substantially rigid enclosure having a front, back, top, bottom and bilaterally srymmetrical sides, said back having a pair of spaced rods extending therefrom, said pair of rods having a flap rotatably connected therebetween, said flap being adapted to vibrate due to the passage of air thereby;

(b) an air intake means opening into the bottom of said enclosure adjacent to its front; and

(c) at least one air-operated sound device connected to said enclosure, said sound device having its air inlet opening to the interior of said enclosure and its outlet opening to the exterior of said enclosure.

1l. A kite as stated in claim l0: wherein said enclosure has an air vent adjacent to said b-ack flap.

12. A three-dimensional kite adapted to actuate airoperated sound devices carried thereon and to maintain stable ght, comprising:

(a) a light, hollow, substantially rigid enclosure having a front, back, top, bottom and bilaterally symrnetrical sides, said front having a pair of spaced rods extending therefrom, said pair of rods having a flap rotatably connected therebetween, said Hap being adapted to vibrate due to the passage of air thereby;

(b) an air intake means opening into the bottom of said enclosure adjacent to its front; and

(c) at least one air-operated sound device connected to said enclosure, said sound device having its air inlet opening to the interior of said enclosure and its outlet opening to the exterior of said enclosure.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Lear Oct. 8, 1946 

1. A THREE-DIMENSIONAL KITE ADAPTED TO ACTUATE AIROPERATED SOUND DEVICES CARRIED THEREON AND TO MAINTAIN STABLE FLIGHT, CONSISTING ESSENTIALLY OF: (A) A LIGHT, HOLLOW, SUBSTANTIALLY RIGID ENCLOSURE HAVING A FRONT, BACK, TOP, BOTTOM AND BILATERALLY SYMMETRICAL SIDES, SAID ENCLOSURE SIDES FORMING SUBSTANTIALLY THE ENTIRE SURFACE OF SAID KITE; (B) AN AIR INTAKE MEANS OPENING INTO THE BOTTOM OF SAID ENCLOSURE ADJACENT TO ITS FRONT; AND (C) AT LEAST ONE AIR-OPERATED SOUND DEVICE CONNECTED TO SAID ENCLOSURE, SAID SOUND DEVICE HAVING ITS AIR INLET OPENING TO THE INTERIOR OF SAID ENCLOSURE AND ITS OUTLET OPENING TO THE EXTERIOR OF SAID ENCLOSURE, SAID ENCLOSURE BEING ADAPTED TO DAMPEN THE PRESSURE VARIATION SO THAT SAID SOUND DEVICE PRODUCES A RELATIVELY STEADY SOUND. 